Remarks by Henry L. Mac-Donald LL.M. at the meeting of the Permanent Council of the OAS on the recently held elections in Haiti, Washington DC,
February 10, 2006.  

Thank you Madam Chairperson,

First of all, I wish to thank the Secretary General for his very informative report on the elections recently held in Haiti. My delegation wishes to convey to the Secretary General and the Assistant Secretary General and their staff, and to the observer countries that had joined them, the full recognition and sincere thanks of my Government for once again bringing so much acknowledgment and standing to the election monitoring process set by this Organization.

I am most of all taking this opportunity to congratulate the People of Haiti on their election and the enormous enthusiasm expressed for the return to normal democratic life. I also wish them well in their efforts to improve their social and economic lives by consolidating a situation of democracy, peace and security.

The People of Haiti have been waiting for almost two years for this important moment. These elections once again provide a way for Haitians to close one chapter of their past, and to join the hemisphere in democracy. We all agree that this election was a crucial necessity, to start working on the prosperity of the Haitian people. Now the moment has come once again to help Haiti in overcoming its social and economic problems.

Madam Chair,

The difficulty in Haiti is not anymore the holding of fair elections. The elections where held and the turn out was among the best in the short democratic history of the country. The People of Haiti have demonstrated to the world that despite their nations struggle with poverty, violence and political turmoil, they desperately wanted democracy to guide and shape their future.

The principal question on Haiti is presently once again:

“How to eradicate the extreme forms of poverty that still exist in that sister country of the OAS?” .

Poverty and hunger have always been major factors of human conflict and misery. Extreme poverty is still the most pertinent factor that can undermine any democracy any where and at any time. A country where a large part of the population lives in extreme poverty and deprivation, and where the life expectancy is no more then 51 years, will never benefit fully from democracy, even if it has the best and most efficient democratic institutions.

The eradication of poverty in Haiti must become and must continue to remain our primary concern and focus, for its persistence will continue to undermine the so desired democracy in that country.

It should, therefore be the primary effort of all the OAS states and the rest of the international community to stay engaged in Haiti so that the most sought after benefits of democracy can indeed be received and celebrated by its People.

Democracy in Haiti will only become stronger when every single citizen can clearly observe that with the support of the international community poverty and hunger are being reduced, that corruption is being tackled, that the society is becoming more righteous, that security and peace are being experienced and that all these gains can be sustained overtime.

Finally, respect for human rights and democratic policies are in our view directly linked. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the past has provided its expertise to Haiti. We express the sincere hope that the Commission will continue to be engaged in Haiti, at least in the very near future.

Thank you very much.

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